week 2 - match report
Jones and Kuranyi secure crucial win in Trondheim
Schalke 04 picked up their first win in this year's Champions League thanks to goals from Jermaine Jones (62') and Kevin Kuranyi (89') at Rosenborg. The 2-0 victory at the Lerkendal Stadium gave the Royal Blues three important points and puts them back in the running for a place in the last 16.
"I'm pleased we got the three points. We defended well, kept another clean sheet and scored the goals at the right time", said head coach Mirko Slomka, delighted with his side's first away win in the competition since October 2001. 
The Schalke boss made two changes to the team that beat Hertha BSC Berlin last Friday. Peter Lovenkrands partnered Kevin Kuranyi in attack in place of the injured Halil Altintop, while Benedikt Höwedes made his competitive debut in the senior side. With Christian Pander ruled out by injury Slomka had every confidence in the Germany youth international and handed him his chance on the left-hand side of the back four. "Benedikt made an excellent debut in a position he isn't used to playing in", said Slomka in praise of the young defender.
The Royal Blues dominated the opening exchanges with some fast, intelligent attacking play that brought them a host of set pieces. "Our finishing needed to be more clinical in that phase of the game", said Slomka. Yet the biggest moment of excitement materialised in front of the Schalke goal. Heiko Westermann's header to Manuel Neuer was too high and the Schalke keeper was forced to scramble back to prevent his side from going behind. Seconds later Zlatan Bajramovic shot straight at Hirschfeld when clean through, and then Iversen was then denied by Neuer.
Operating a very defensive 4-5-1 system, Rosenborg made it difficult for Schalke to get into their stride. With the exception of Iversen, the entire Norwegian team dropped back into their own half whenever Schalke were in possession and made things very tight from about 25 metres out, which meant the Royal Blues threatened only when they played quick passes in behind the defence or switched to the flanks. 
This limited Schalke to three chances for Kuranyi (35'), Ivan Rakitic (44') and Jones (45'). For their part the Norwegians quickly unleashed high diagonal balls forward whenever they gained possession. "We had to be fully focused all the time, but we stood firm at the back", said Slomka.
After the interval Schalke coped better with Rosenborg's counter-attacking strategy and had more space to launch some attacking movements of their own. "We played very well tactically in the second half, too", explained Slomka. And in the 62nd minute the Royal Blues got their reward for a committed showing. Rakitic struck a neat pass forward to Jones, who gave Schalke a deserved lead. "We dozed off a bit there, as we were trying to play offside. Unfortunately it didn't work", explained Knut Torum.
The Rosenborg coach responded to the goal by introducing an additional striker in Koné. But the Schalke defence, in which Rafinha excelled, looked very solid, restricting the Norwegians to very few chances. And in the closing stages the Royal Blues sealed a crucial win when Kuranyi added a second after a break involving Carlos Grossmüller.
Rosenborg: Hirschfeld – Strand, Basma, Koppinen, Dorsin (Ya 79') – Skjelbred (Koné 68'), Sapara, Riseth, Tettey, Traoré – Iversen
Schalke: Neuer – Rafinha, Westermann, Bordon, Höwedes – Ernst – Jones (Varela 84'), Bajramovic – Rakitic (Grossmüller 74') – Kuranyi, Lovenkrands (Asamoah 64')
Goals: 0-1 Jones (62'), 0-2 Kuranyi (89')
Referee: Gilewski (Poland)
